West Brom boss Roy Hodgson disappointed with manner of defeat to Norwich City

Roy Hodgson felt West Brom were unfortunate after losing the Premier League fixture to Paul Lambert's Norwich City side by the same 2-1 score a fortnight earlier. Picture: Paul Chesterton / Focus Images

West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson admitted the error by Craig Dawson that led to the Canaries' late winner at The Hawthorns was "a sad way to lose the game" - but would not criticise the defender.

Five minutes remained when Dawson dwelt on the ball after receiving it from a throw-in, enabling substitute Simeon Jackson to rob him and fire his side into the last 16.

“It was one of those no-brainer mistakes that people make and you feel sorry for them,” said Hodgson.

“There’s no point criticising him. It’s a sad way to lose the game but 1-1 wouldn’t have been a result that would have pleased me particularly either, to be perfectly honest.

“A midweek return game down at Norwich is not something which would be high on my priority list. My hope for the day was that we would win the game and go into the hat for the next round, but we didn’t.”

Hodgson felt Albion were unfortunate after losing the Premier League fixture to Norwich by the same 2-1 score a fortnight earlier.

“They’ve come away with two victories but over the 90 minutes I thought probably we’ve been slightly the better team on both occasions,” he said.

He made no apology for leaving out a clutch of senior players, as indeed did City boss Paul Lambert.

“They had fewer players missing than we did,” said Hodgson. “We all take the FA Cup seriously and we try to do our very best but there’s no doubt having a Cup run and perhaps being beaten in the sixth round, which has happened to me several times at Fulham, doesn’t help a great deal.

“When people look back at my time at Fulham they don’t remember the two quarter-finals and the replay that one of them went to.

“They remember the league performances and that’s what is important. We know where our priorities lie.”